Advertising sign



May 8, 1934. T. NEWHALL ET AL 1,958,064

ADVERTISING SIGN Filed March 13, 1933 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 5 Fig].

' I" #19 /7 7 l 7/ l m1 mum-W UNSE- ST 37 SQLUTUIUN "NW mm w 71 3 Li 1 F QHUEXYESRCHHNQLI; MSEDHQWQNST is]? ATTORN EYS May 8, 1934.

.T. NEWHALL ET AL.

ADVERTIS ING SIGN Filed March 15, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 XNVENT'O .5

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ATTO RN EYS May 8,1934 'r. NEWHALL ET AL 1,958,064

ADVERTISING SIGN Filed March 15, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 i if INVENTORS BY 12.; BM AM; 76 M ATTO R N EYS Patented May 8, 1934 UI'TED STATES PATENT l6 ADVERTISING SIGN of Maryland Application March 13,

12 Claims.

This invention relates to an advertising sign and mechanism for imparting different motions to diiferent'portions of the sign. More particularly, it relates to a sign, various syllables or other units of which are caused to reciprocate up and down by themovement of flanged cams on which the units rest, and different units resting on cams fastened to a single rotating shaft are given different motions according to the shape or posie tion of the cams on which they rest.

The advertising sign of this invention is adapted for various display purposes and a great variety of different motions may be imparted to different parts of the sign to produce attractive and 16 interesting effects. The structure of the sign is such that the display material and the movement imparted to the display material may be readily changed. The sign is therefore especially adapted for use in an advertising campaign in some particular city or section of a city where a larger or smaller number of signs of this type are placed in a number of stores, for example, in the windows of all of the drug stores in a certain section of a city. Because of the ease with which the display material and the motion imparted to the sign may be changed, a single attendant can by visiting all of the signs at intervals, either daily or every few days, change the wording of all of the signs or the motion imparted to some particular wording. By thus constantly changing the display material in such a sign, the effectiveness of the sign for advertising purposes is increased.

The sign is designed to cause difierent parts of the display material to move up and down at different times. Each single letter of a word may move separately from every other letter, but, preferably the different syllables or other portions of a word are moved as a unit. By dividing unusual or new words into syllables and causing each syllable to move in a somewhat different manner, the public may readily be made acquainted with the word and such advertising may be helpful in familiarizing the public with the more or less difficult words sometimes used in advertising. The sign however is not limited to the display of words but may be used for other display material which may be similarly divided into units.

By standardizing the signs, the display material removed from one sign may be readily inserted in another sign and an attendant visiting a number of signs daily may transfer the display material from one sign to the next in series.

The construction of the sign is such that the 1933, Serial No. 660,496

display may be quickly changed from one Word or sentence to another word or sentence of different length, requiring different spacing, and the sequence of the movements of the units of one dis- N operated at different speeds which will vary the h period of reciprocation of the units supported by difierent shafts.

The invention will be further described in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is an elevation of one side of the sign which will be referred to herein as the front;

Figure 2 is an elevation of the other side or back of the sign with the top and reflecting border removed;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view on the line 3--3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a detail of the mechanism for imparting movement to one of the rows of units;

Figure 5 is a sectional elevation of one of the rows of units;

Figure 6 is a plan view of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a plan of a modified arrangement of the letters;

Figures 8 and 9 are details of letters showing the supporting means; and

Figure 10 is a detail of a letter-carrying bar.

The sign may comprise a single row of letters but is preferably made up of a plurality of rows and in the drawings, three rows or tiers are shown. Only one side of the sign may be exposed to view although I prefer to arrange the design in such a way that both front and back are used for display purposes. The front and back may be used for different display material as shown in the drawings.

The sign is supported by a base 5 and the display material is surrounded by a reflecting surface or other border 6. I have shown the top as made up of end pieces 7 and a central partition 8 which forms a front and back display shelf for presenting packages 9 of the material advertised. Any suitable top piece may be used. A mercury vapor lamp or suitable bulbs are shown at 10 and a reflector at 11, supported from the top of the sign. Any suitable illumination may be utilized.

The display material is supported on various racks, shown in the drawings as racks 13, 14 and 15 supported by the base 16. Each rack has a front and back surface 17 and 17 which forms a background for the letters on the front and back of the sign. The front and back of each rack extend somewhat below the end plates 18 and fit snugly into slots or notches 19 provided in the end plates. The side plates of the bottom rack fit over the base 16. Additional side plates 20 are provided above the sides of the top rack and are preferably made as a removable part of the top rack, although they may be made as a separate unit adjusted to fit into the notches 19 in this rack. Guides 21 are provided at the ends of each rack to hold them in position. The bar 22 fits down over the assemblage, making it rigid. The bar is held in place by the thumb screw 23.

To change the display material the sign is disassembled by first removing the top, then after first loosening the thumb screws 24, removing the reflector surfaces, and then after loosening the thumb screw 23 and removing the bar 22, separating the various racks.

In each rack is a rotating shaft 30. The movement of the shaft is translated through cams 31 to the carrying bar 32 and thence to the display material which, in this case, consists of the various letters shown at the front and back of the sign. The letters are broken up into syllables or units to each of which is attached a single carrying bar 32. These bars may vary in length. They may for example be the right length to carry three or four letters as shown in Figure 1G, or they may be cut to support one or two, or five or more letters. For example, in this sign, the word GARGLE is divided into two syllables and the letters in each syllable are individually attached to different carrying bars and a different up and down movement is imparted to the different syllables by the cams on which they rest. These cams are flanged at 33 to prevent the carrying bars from shifting laterally. The sign is so arranged that the syllables or units of each word at the front and back of the sign which are fastened to the same carrying bar are given the same move-- ment and this is true no matter whether these syllables contain the same number of letters or a different number. If the units on the front and back of the sign contain a different number of letters, the arrangement may be that shown in Figures 5 and 6 or in Figure '7 in which the syllable GAR of the word GABGLE on one side of the sign is supported by the same carrying bar as the unit ME of the word HGME on the other side of the sign. As the cams 31 move the carrying bar 32: up and down, these letters on the front and back of the sign will be moved up and down together.

Each of the letters 36, as shown in Figures 5, 6 and '7, is connected by an overlapping upright portion 3'? to a cross plate 38 in which there is a hole 39 for the insertion of a screw 40 fastened to the carrying plate 32. The hole 39 is elongated so that any one of the letters may be used on any one of the racks, which are different widths. One of the letters to be displayed on each side of the sign is fastened with a thumb nut 41 to a single screw 40 as shown at the right of Figures 5 and 6. If a letter to be shown on one side of the sign coincides with a blank space on the other side, the

letter to be shown on the one side is fastened alone as shown at the left end of Figures 5 and 6. In the example taken, the letter G of the syllable GAR on the back of the sign is fastened alone to the carrying plate 32 and the two remaining letters are fastened to the same screws as the letters ME appearing on the front of the sign, the letters A and E being fastened to one screw and the letters R and M being fastened to the screw next to this.

An alternative arrangement is shown in Figure *7 in which the three letters shown on the back of the sign are superimposed on the two letters shown on the front of the sign, and the two letters are held in place by tightening the three thumb nuts which hold the three upper letters to the supporting plate. The letters on'opposite sides of the sign are given the same movement but this movement may be imparted to a different number of letters on each side of the sign. Instead of building up units of the display from plates containing individual letters a single plate containing several letters may be used. Or a twofaced unit containing a plate bearing certain letters for the front of the sign and another plate with letters for the back of the sign may be used. These may be perforated and screwed to a carrying bar 32 or they may be used without such a bar.

I prefer to form the display material from individual letters, as then the material which has been used in one display may be reused for another display. By fastening the individual letters to the carrying bars, units are formed which can readily be carried from one sign to another by an attendant, and the signs may be as readily changed as though the various combinations of letters for the front and back were formed on a single piece of metal.

The letters may be raised on the surface of the plates as shown in Figure 8 or the plate may be cut in the form of the letter as shown in Figure 9 or other letter devices may be employed. The letters may be of metal for example a shining metal surface against a dull background or they may be made of suitable light reflecting material or any suitable material may be employed. The

surface of the plate 36 which bears the letters is advantageously made of the same material as the plates 16 and 17 or is of the same color so that the plates bearing the figures are not distinguishable from the background and the illusion is that the letters alone move against the background.

Movement is imparted to the letters from the revolving shaft 30 by the earns 31. The cams are fastened to the shaft 30 by set screws 45 and they may be spaced any distance to receive units containing any number of letters. They may be arranged on the shaft in any position so as to produce any desired relative movement between different sections of letters. For example, using circular cams of the same size and fastening the cams to the shaft by set screwsso that each pair of cams is fastened at an angle of 45 to the pairs adjacent to it on both sides and at an angle of 186 to the pairs adjacent to that, the rotation of the shaft will cause the syllables to move in waves. Such an arrangement is shown in Figure 1. The waves may be of different length as illustrated in Figure 2 where the distance between the nodes in the top row of letters is much less than in the bottom row. A different effect is produced by fastening each pair of cams at an angle of 180 to the pair next adjacent to it. In this case, the different syllables will appear to dance lit its

takes out the bar 22.

up an down. By using cams'of different sizes oer tain syllables may be caused to move a greater distance up and down than other syllables and by using cams of' different shapes suchas oval cams for moving certain units and circular cams for other units, a variety of motions may be obtained on a single rotating shaft.

Figure 2 shows three shafts 30, toimpart motion to the three rows of letters in the sign there shown. These shafts are all operated from the motor which drives the sprocket 51 by means of worm and gear 52. The three shafts 30 provided with sprockets 53 are connected to each other and to the sprocket 51 by chains 53. Sprockets of different sizes may be used as shown in Figure 2 and they may be arranged to rotate the shafts 30 at different speeds so that units of the sign actuated by different shafts will reciprocate at different rates. For example, as shown in Figure 2 with larger sprockets on the upper and lower shafts both connected to small sprockets on the middle shaft, the upper and lower rows of letters move at a slower speed than the middle row of letters.

When an attendant desires to change the display material in any one sign he first removes the top and one of the reflecting surfaces 6. Figure 2 shows the sign with these removed. He then This enables him to lift out the racks 13, 14 and 15, one at a time. As shown in Figure 2 the end of each of the shafts 30 is bifurcated at 55 to receive a tongue on the end of the sprocket shaft which operates it. In replacing the racks, these sprocket shafts are pulled by the handles 56 against the action of the springs 5'7 and the tongues are then fitted into the ends of the shafts 30 by turning the handles 56.

When the racks have been removed the units of display matter can readily be replaced by new units. The spacing of the cams on the shaft and the angles at which the cams are fastened to the shaft can be changed by adjusting the set screws 45. Any surplus of cams beyond those 1 needed for a particular display need not be removed but may be moved to one end of the shaft.

The shafts may be removed from the racks to add additional cams or to change the arrangement of the cams where cams of different sizes 1 or shapes are employed. This is done by raising the set screw 60, which fits into the circumferential groove 61. The shaft may then be pulled to the right and then pushed up and out of the rack to the left.

Letters of different size and shape and color and made of different materials may be used on different backgrounds and mounted or assembled in various sign arrangements, all within the scope of this invention. In the embodiment shown in the drawings, figures or letters may be used on the front and back face of the base 5 to form a permanent advertising display, or these may be ornamented in any desired way. On the whole the sign presents a very attractive appearance and it may be very readily disassembled and the display material changed with ease in a short period of time.

I claim:

1. A two-faced advertising sign, units comprising a part of each face being joined together and supported by cams fastened to a shaft which is connected to means for rotating it.

2. In an advertising sign, a shaft connected to means for rotating it, a pair of symmetrical cams fastened to the shaft with a flange on the outside of each cam, and a unit made up of a plurality of plates, each containing a portion of the display m'atter'of the sign resting on the cams and prevented from lateral movement by the flanges.

3. In anadvertisingsign, a shaft. connected to means-for rotating it, a plurality of pairs of flanged cams fastened to the shaft, the cams of each pair being symmetrical and fastened to the shaft in the same position but difierent in shape from an adjacentpair, and a plurality of units each made up of a plurality of plates eachv of whichpla'te's contains a portion of the display matter of the sign, with different units resting on different pairs of cams and each prevented from lateral movement by the flanges on the cams.

4. In an advertising sign a shaft connected to means for rotating it, a pair of symmetrical cams fastened to the shaft and a unit made up of a plurality of plates each containing a portion of the display matter of the sign resting on the cams.

5. In an advertising sign, a shaft connected to means for rotating it, a plurality of cams fastened to the shaft and a plurality of units each made up of a number of plates, each of which plates contains a portion of the display matter of the sign, with each unit resting on cams which are symmetrical and arranged in the same position on the shaft.

6. An advertising sign comprising several substantially parallel rows of letters, supported by cams, all of the cams supporting one row of letters being fastened to a single shaft, and means for rotating the shaft, the letters of each row being divided into units, each comprising a plurality of letters and each unit being supported by different cams.

7. In an advertising sign, a shaft connected to means for rotating it, a plurality of pairs of flanged cams fastened to the shaft, the cams of each pair being symmetrical and fastened to the shaft in the same position but in a different position from an adjacent pair, and a plurality of units each made up of a plurality of plates each of which plates contains a portion of the display matter of the sign, with different units resting on different cams and each prevented from lateral movement by the flanges on the cams.

8. An advertising sign comprising a plurality of racks, each rack being provided with display matter, said display matter being divided into units, each of which expresses a meaning by itself, means for reciprocating various units of the display matter, means whereby adjacent units in each rack are given a different motion relative to the motion of the unit adjacent to it, and means whereby the movement imparted to the units in one rack is different from the movements imparted to the units in the rack immediately above it.

9. An advertising sign comprising a plurality of racks, each rack being provided with display matter, said display matter being divided into units, each of which expresses a meaning by itself, means for reciprocating various units of the display matter, means whereby adjacent units in each rack are given a different motion relative to the motion of the unit adjacent to it, a motor, means connecting the motor with the reciprocating means of each rack for reciprocating the units, and means whereby the movement imparted to the units in one rack is different from the movement imparted to the units in the rack immediately above it.

10. An advertising sign comprising a rotatable shaft, cams fixed on said shaft to rotate therewith, a plurality of units, each of which comprises a plurality of letters, resting on said cams and movable thereby when the shaft rotates.

11. An advertising sign comprising a plurality of racks arranged in difierent horizontal planes, each rack being provided with display matter, a rotatable shaft for each rack, cams fixed on said shaft to rotate therewith, means for causing said cams to impart reciprocatory motion to portions of the display matter, and means whereby the movement imparted to the display matter in one rack is different from the movement imparted to r the display matter in the rack immediately above it 12. In an advertising sign, a shaft, means for THOMAS NEWHALL. PAUL S. PITTENGER. 

